Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has admitted that his side have thrown their season "into the garbage".

Heading into 2015 they were well placed, having moved level with Chelsea at the top of the Barclays Premier League table.

However, since then City have been eliminated from both the FA Cup and the Champions League while defeats against Arsenal, Liverpool, Burnley and Crystal Palace have all but ruled out their chances of retaining the league title.

Pellegrini, quoted in several national newspapers, said: "It has not been a good season. It was not so bad until the end of 2014, when we were top of the table and also had the FA Cup and Champions League.

"But in the last three months we have thrown it into the garbage.

"I think always for the fans it is important to finish as near to the top of the table as you can and that's what we must do."

City captain Vincent Kompany turned 29 on Friday, while players such as Yaya Toure, Pablo Zabaleta, Aleksandar Kolarov, James Milner, Edin Dzeko and David Silva are all also now senior statesmen within the group.

Much has been made of the age of the City squad, but Kompany insists that major changes are not needed at the Etihad.

"This team doesn't need ­restructuring," he said.

"I would say it's more about refocusing. These criticisms about age come and go with form. If you are in good form and you're having a good season, then people say it's your experience that got you there.

"If you're having a bad run of form, like we are now, then age is the problem.

"We have to think outside of what people say. We've not been as good as we could have been. That's the bottom line and we need to solve that. But I can only speak from what I see and, looking around the dressing room, I haven't noticed that this team is coming to an end."